Santa Rosa research station gives CSUCI students chance to study island

The coastline along Bechers Bay. CSU Channel Islands and Channel Islands National Park are building a field research station on Santa Rosa Island. Students and scholars will use the station to research the island’s biology and history as well as to study resource management.

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CSU Channel Islands and Channel Islands National Park are building a field research station on Santa Rosa Island. Students will sleep and eat in the island’s bunkhouse, which will be renovated. The bunkhouse once housed ranch hands.

Contributed photo

Santa Cruz Island is seen. CSU Channel Islands and Channel Islands National Park are building a field research station on Santa Rosa Island.

Contributed photo

The island fox lives on Santa Rosa Island.

Contributed photo

CSU Channel Islands and Channel Islands National Park are building a field research station on Santa Rosa Island — a place where undergraduates can research science, archaeology and resource management alongside experts in their fields.

The station also will allow the park to gather data on an island that only recently became public land after being owned by ranchers. Channel Islands students will play a key role in collecting that information, said Don Rodriguez, an environmental science professor at the Camarillo university.

"The park has had very little in the way of scientific investigation," Rodriguez said. "We'll be establishing a baseline for the post-grazing landscape, looking at what happens once that pressure is removed."

Park Superintendent Russell Galipeau knows the benefits of undergraduate research. When Galipeau was studying wildlife ecology at the University of Florida, the school required students to do fieldwork in a nearby forest.

"Every time we did field research, we went to the forest," Galipeau said. "By the time seniors had to do their practicum, we had data from years of everyone going to the same forest.

"My vision is that they would mimic that same kind of program, create that same kind of database. ... We get data. They get data and field experience."

The Camarillo university plans to convert buildings for its research station. A bunkhouse that housed ranch hands will be renovated. Outbuildings might be converted into workspace.

"There's a lot of work to have it fully functional," said Dan Wakelee, assistant provost at Channel Islands.

The renovations and other work will be funded through grants and private donations, Wakelee said.

The first research students are expected to go to Santa Rosa Island the second week in June, when they will establish a program for monitoring the beaches.

The university also is planning archaeology field studies for the summer. Eventually, the campus hopes to have a semester-long program in which all classes revolve around island science and history.

Santa Rosa won't be the only park island with a field research station. UC Santa Barbara has one on Santa Cruz Island, and the National Marine Fisheries Service has one on San Miguel.

Santa Rosa is specially suited for a field research station because of its biology and history, Rodriguez said. Several plant species are unique to the island, where rare torrey pines also grow. Island foxes and spotted skunks live there. So do harbor seals, sea lions and northern elephant seals.

"There's a unique arrangement of species that we don't see in other places along the coast," Rodriguez said.

Santa Rosa also is rich in archaeology. The earliest human remains in North America were unearthed there. In 1994, paleontologists discovered the remains of a pygmy mammoth. Artifacts including shell middens are everywhere, Rodriguez said.

It's rich in history, too. The island's old ranch house will be preserved and managed by the park service as part of a historic district.

All that means students from several disciplines — not just science, archaeology and history — can take advantage of the island's resources, Wakelee said.

Statistics students might help analyze data. Art students could paint seascapes or make detailed drawings of native plants. Students majoring in English might compose poems or write short stories about the island's history and landscape.

The station also will be open to researchers from other universities, who may share their expertise over dinner with Channel Islands students, Galipeau said.

"It has the potential to be much broader than the typical field station," Wakelee said.

Officials hope to connect with community organizations, too. Rodriguez said. Students from Oxnard, Ventura, Moorpark and Santa Barbara community colleges will help monitor the sandy beaches. The university also might work with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper to monitor water quality.

"We're a wonderful conduit to the community," Rodriguez said. "A lot of our students are homegrown."

Community connections

CSU Channel Islands is working with Channel Islands National Park to build a research station on Santa Rosa Island. The Camarillo university also has partnerships with local organizations, including: